read-cache.c: verify index file before we opportunistically update it

Before we proceed to opportunistically update the index (often done
by an otherwise read-only operation like "git status" and "git diff"
that internally refreshes the index), we must verify that the
current index file is the same as the one that we read earlier
before we took the lock on it, in order to avoid a possible race.

In the example below git-status does "opportunistic update" and
git-rebase updates the index, but the race can happen in general.

  1. process A calls git-rebase (or does anything that uses the index)

  2. process A applies 1st commit

  3. process B calls git-status (or does anything that updates the index)

  4. process B reads index

  5. process A applies 2nd commit

  6. process B takes the lock, then overwrites process A's changes.

  7. process A applies 3rd commit

As an end result the 3rd commit will have a revert of the 2nd commit.
When process B takes the lock, it needs to make sure that the index
hasn't changed since step 4.

Signed-off-by: Yiannis Marangos <yiannis.marangos@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/wrapper.c b/wrapper.c
index 5b3c7fceb3..bc1bfb8600 100644
--- a/wrapper.c
+++ b/wrapper.c
@@ -232,6 +232,26 @@ ssize_t write_in_full(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
 	return total;
 }
 
+ssize_t pread_in_full(int fd, void *buf, size_t count, off_t offset)
+{
+	char *p = buf;
+	ssize_t total = 0;
+
+	while (count > 0) {
+		ssize_t loaded = xpread(fd, p, count, offset);
+		if (loaded < 0)
+			return -1;
+		if (loaded == 0)
+			return total;
+		count -= loaded;
+		p += loaded;
+		total += loaded;
+		offset += loaded;
+	}
+
+	return total;
+}
+
 int xdup(int fd)
 {
 	int ret = dup(fd);